Spiro Agnew

Spiro Agnew (1918-1996), 39th vice president of the United States (1969-1973). Spiro Theodore Agnew was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on November 9, 1918. The son of a Greek-born father and an American mother, Agnew served in the United States Army during World War II (1939-1945), then studied law at the University of Baltimore and became a practicing attorney.

In 1962 Agnew was elected Baltimore County Executive as a Republican, and four years later he won the Maryland governorship. In 1968 and again in 1972 Agnew was elected vice president on a ticket with Richard M. Nixon. As vice president he became known for his flamboyantly-phrased speeches denouncing liberals, radicals, and other critics of the Nixon administration.

In August 1973 it was revealed that Agnew was under investigation by the U.S. attorney's office in Baltimore on charges of bribery, extortion, tax fraud, and conspiracy. In October U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson formally charged him with having accepted bribes totaling more than $100,000 while holding office as county executive, governor, and vice president. Denying the bribery charges, Agnew pleaded no contest to a charge of tax evasion. On October 10, 1973, he was fined $10,000 and sentenced to three years' probation. Just hours before, he had resigned, becoming the first U.S. vice president to do so because of criminal charges. Agnew was succeeded as vice president by Gerald R. Ford, the minority leader in the House of Representatives. After leaving office Agnew established a business as a consultant in international trade. Agnew's autobiography Go Quietly . . . or Else was published in 1980.